БУКОВИНАhttp://buktolerance.com.ua?lang=en
ТОЛЕРАНТНАThu, 02 Aug 2018 09:26:07 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.11Decentralization in Ukraine: an Opportunity for National Minorities?http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=8604&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=8604&lang=en#respondThu, 21 Dec 2017 07:01:32 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=8604Читати далі Decentralization in Ukraine: an Opportunity for National Minorities?]]>The process of decentralization is designated as one of the priorities of the current Ukraine’s authorities who aim to vest powers, resources, and responsibilities in local self-government bodies by transferring them from the executive branch. The country’s regional diversity implies the involvement of the minority factor as one of the key factors of decentralization policies, particularly in the poly-ethnic regions of Chernivtsi, Odessa and Transcarpathia. In his comment for the ICELDS Dr. Taras Khalavka, expert in ethnic relations, provides his vision of the decentralization policies on the example of the region of Chernivtsi.

Taras Khalavka: Ukraine inherited a rather centralized governance system from the Soviet regime. The authorities of villages and small towns have neither resources, nor authority to manage educational, medical or cultural spheres. At the district level the power belonged to executive bodies (administrations). The impact of the local self-government bodies on these processes was limited.

The process of decentralization started in Ukraine in 2015. It foresees the transfer of powers from the executive bodies at the district level to the administrative units of the basic level – the amalgamated territorial communities (ATCs). The ATCs are formed on a voluntary basis as an association of several settlements (towns, villages, townships) pursuant to the Law on Voluntary Amalgamation of Territorial Communities and the Methodology approved by the Government. This process is absolutely voluntary. In fact, there are ATCs formed as an association of just two settlements (the smallest community in the region of Chernivtsi has 2,500 people). There are also large communities of up to 40,000 persons which include ten or even more settlements. The ATCs receive significant financial resources, as well as powers to manage the spheres of education and culture. The process of the ATC formation in the poly-ethnic regions, where various national minorities reside, is very interesting. There are three districts in the region of Chernivtsi where Romanians compactly reside, and one where Moldovans live. The communities with a mixed ethnic composition are being formed in these regions.

According to the Law on Voluntary Amalgamation of Territorial Communities, “when deciding on the voluntary amalgamation of territorial communities, historical, natural, ethnic, cultural and other factors which affect social and economic development of the amalgamated territorial community shall be taken into account.” The criteria included in the Methodology for the formation of ATCs are the historical, geographical, social, economic, and cultural features of the development of a specific territorial unit.

The Ukrainian legislation establishes no further specific criteria for the ATC formation in the areas of compact residence of national or linguistic minorities. A more precise regulation of the national minorities’ needs will be required in case of transformation from a voluntary to an administrative association.

As mentioned before, the process of the ATC formation is currently voluntary. The local authorities (the council and the chairman) independently decide on the merger with the neighbors. The Methodology for the Formation of Capable Territorial Communities also foresees public discussions which implies the involvement of the residents of the communities in question. Therefore, the voluntary nature of the decentralization process implies various configurations of the ATCs:

The ATCs with a mono-ethnic population (Ukrainians or Romanians). The representatives of national minorities compactly reside in the following amalgamated territorial communities: Chudei, Krasnoilsk, Terebleche, Ostrytsia, and Mamalyha (there is only one village with the Ukrainian majority out of six settlements which formed this community);
The ATCs with a multiethnic population. In some cases members of the country’s titular nation form a minority (Mahala, Voloka), while in other cases Ukrainians constitute majority (Vashkivtsi).
Ukrainians compactly reside in other amalgamated territorial communities.

Powers in the spheres of culture and education are being transferred to the authorities of the amalgamated communities that give them the opportunity to form independently their cultural and educational agendas, including those in the minority languages. However, the new ATCs often lack specialists who could provide professional methodological work in the sphere of education. Small ATCs are financially limited in organizing their cultural events (festivals, competitions, etc.). Previously these events were held at the district level; now they were transferred to the ATC level. Consolidation of the capacities of several ATCs could be one of the possible solutions, as is stipulated by the Law on Cooperation of Territorial Communities. However, the ATCs have not used this opportunity in practice.

Thus, I believe that the most urgent issues of research pertinent to the role of minorities in the process of decentralization are the following:

formation of models of multi-ethnic communities and consideration of the needs of national minorities in this process. This issue will be actualized during the transition process to the administrative formation of the ATC;
Legislation on local elections. Elections in the rural ATCs (with villages as the community centers) are held on a majority basis, while in the urban ATCs (with cities/towns as the community centers) the proportional representation system applies. It is important to determine the possibilities for participation of representatives of national minorities in the electoral process, especially in the case of proportion elections;
Application of the provisions of the Law on Cooperation of Territorial Communities in the context of realization of the rights of the persons belonging to national minorities in the ATCs;
Use of minority languages and the state language in the ethnically mixed ATCs;
Formation of the hub-schools in the poly-ethnic regions.
This list is not exhaustive and can therefore be extended.
Джерело: http://www.icelds.org/2017/12/06/decentralization-in-ukraine-an-opportunity-for-national-minorities/

Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=86040International Obligationshttp://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=8386&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=8386&lang=en#respondTue, 11 Jul 2017 06:44:24 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=8386This report was prepared by the team of the European Centre for Minority Issues (Flensburg, Germany) with participation of experts from Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. The listed authors do not necessarily agree to all the contents and conclusions of the report.

]]>This report was prepared by the team of the European Centre for Minority Issues (Flensburg, Germany) with participation of experts from Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. The listed authors do not necessarily agree to all the contents and conclusions of the report.

According to Article 9 of the Constitution of Ukraine of 1996 “international treaties that are in force, agreed to be binding by the Verkhovna Rada [Parliament] of Ukraine, are part of the national legislation of Ukraine”. Ukraine participates on all main universal and European international instruments on human rights, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Ukraine is also a member of other UN conventions on human rights. Ukraine is a party to all main conventions of the Council of Europe on human rights, including ECHR, renewed European Social Charter and FCNM; it has also signed and ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Special chapters regulating provision of the rights of persons belonging to ethnic minorities are present in inter-governmental treaties between Ukraine and its neighbours, namely Poland (1992), Moldova (1996), Romania (1997), Republic of Belarus (1997) and Russia (1997). A separate Agreement on cooperation in ensuring the rights of persons belonging to national minorities was signed with the Republic of Moldova, and is still to be ratified by the Parliament of Moldova.

General Constitutional and Legislative Norms on Equality

Constitution

Article 21 of the 1996 Constitution declares equality of all people in their dignity and rights, and that human rights and freedoms are inalienable and inviolable. The Constitution presupposes equal fundamental rights and freedoms as well as equality of citizens before the law irrespective of their “race, colour of skin, political, religious and other affiliations, gender, ethnic and social origin, wealth, place of residence, linguistic and other characteristics” (Article 24). The rights and freedoms of an individual and citizen, enshrined in the Constitution, are not exhaustive, cannot be abolished or restricted in scope and content by way of adopting anew or amending the existing legislation (Article 22). In Ukraine, the free development, use and protection of the Russian language and other minority languages of Ukraine are guaranteed (Article 10).

Legislation

Most codes and numerous laws related to human rights declare the principle of non-discrimination, and presuppose the prohibition of discrimination or contain the ban on the violation of equality of rights. A special place in the system of equality protection is taken by the specialized law against discrimination.

The Law on Equality

The Law “On the Principles of Preventing and Combating Discrimination in Ukraine” No.5207-VI was adopted on 6 September 2012 as part of the government’s efforts aimed at reaching the Association agreement with the European Union. It was significantly amended by the Law No.1263-VII of 13 May 2014.
Discrimination is defined by the law as “decisions, actions or omissions aimed at restriction or granting privileges with regard to individuals or groups of individuals” on certain grounds “if they render recognition and exercising of human rights and freedoms on equal grounds impossible” (Article 1). The law provides an open list of criteria for discrimination, namely race, skin colour , political, religious and other beliefs, gender, age, disability, ethnic and social origin, family and property status, place of residence and language.
The scope of the law covers all persons ont the territory of Ukraine. The law concerns all public relations, and Article 4 provides an open list of the spheres of its application, in particular, civil and political activity, public service and service at local self-government bodies, justice, employment, health care, education, social protection, housing, and access to goods and services. The first draft of the law identified the forms of discrimination as direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, incitement to discrimination and harassment; in 2014, this list was complemented by assistance to discrimination.
Article 6 (3) establishes the limits for the prohibition of discrimination; in particular, positive measures are not considered to be part of it. Positive measures are the measures of special protection of certain categories of persons; they include preservation of identity of particular groups, benefits and compensations, governmental social guarantees and special conditions for exercising certain rights.
The main directions of governmental policies on preventing and combating discrimination are defined as non-discrimination, application of positive action, creating conditions for timely exposure of cases of discrimination and ensuring effective protection, education, advocacy and raising awareness about the issue among the population of Ukraine (Article 7). The law prescribes conducting anti-discrimination expertise as part of drafting of new legislation (Article 8).
The main tasks in the realm of preventing and combating discrimination are performed by the Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Article 10). The Parliament Commissioner carries out general control of compliance with the principle of non-discrimination; conducts monitoring of adherence to the principle of non-discrimination in various spheres of public life; takes legal action in cases of discrimination in order to safeguard public interests; considers appeals of individuals and/or groups on the issues of discrimination; provides expert conclusion on courts requests; puts forward suggestions on improving the legislation; maintains cooperation with international organisations, etc.
One of the problems concerning the implementation of Article 10 is that in spite of the fact that the law enshrines the right of the Commissioner to lodge suits to court for the protection of public interests in cases of discrimination, up until now no amendments had been introduced into Article 45 of the Code of Civil Procedure and Article 60 of the Code of Administrative Legal Proceedings of Ukraine. Hence, the Commissioner cannot file lawsuits in its own right, but can only represent complainants in individual cases.
The coordination of work on prevention and combating discrimination is carried out by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (Article 11). The powers of other public bodies, authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local self-government bodies include submitting suggestions on the improvement of legislation, taking special measures, adhering to the principle of non-discrimination in their work, cooperation with public organisations on the implementation of the principle of non-discrimination, promoting research in the field of preventing and combating discrimination, and activities aimed at raising awareness on relevant issues (Article 12). It is important to note that this article does not grant powers on preventing and combating discrimination to other government bodies. Article 13 also provides the list of rights of civic organisations, natural and legal persons, including the right to represents persons contesting discrimination in courts.
Pursuant to Article 14, an individual considering him/herself a victim of discrimination, has the right to file a complaint to the government and local self-government bodies (here there is a partial contradiction with Article 12 of the law), to the Parliament Commissioner on Human Rights and/or to court; such a complaint shall have no negative consequences for the claimant. Article 15 prescribes that an individual has the right to redress of material and moral damage inflicted by the act of discrimination. Individuals guilty of violation of legislation on preventing and combating discrimination shall bear civil, administrative or criminal responsibility (Article 16). However, the law does not outline the procedure of compensation of pecuniary or non-pecuniary damage as well as bringing those guilty persons to responsibility, referring to other legislative acts of Ukraine. The first draft of the law did not mention procedural aspects of proving discrimination, such as the standards and burden of proof, but amendments of 13 May 2014 introduced changes into part 1 of Article 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine, according to which the burden of proof in cases of discrimination is shifted to the defendant: the plaintiff submits factual data that indicate presence of discrimination, and the defendant shall prove absence of discrimination.
Claims of discrimination are considered according to the standard procedure along with other requests submitted to the Commissioner. The law prescribes the following order: the claim is submitted to the Parliament Commissioner on Human Rights or to court. In case the Commissioner accepts the claim, he/she may proceed to:
• opening proceedings on the case of violation of the rights of individual;
• informing the complainant what actions he/she may undertake to defend own rights, including providing consultation regarding alternative means of defence relevant for a specific case;
• referring the claim to a competent body and monitoring its consideration.
If the claim is submitted directly to court, the Commissioner does not consider it; if the case is referred to court while being handled by the Commissioner, such handling is terminated.
Anti-discrimination law introduced amendments to the Code of Administrative Legal Proceedings. Pursuant to Article 2 of the new version, in court cases related to appealing the decisions or inaction of competent authorities, administrative courts have the powers to conduct investigation of whether such actions were taken in accordance with the principle of equality of all before the law, in order to prevent all forms of discrimination.

Criminal Code

Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine addresses the violation of equality of citizens based on their race, ethnicity or attitude to religion. It presupposes liability for “intentional actions aimed at inciting national, racial of religious feud and hatred, humiliation of national honour and dignity or violation of feelings of citizens in relation to their religious affiliation, and direct or indirect restriction of rights or granting direct or indirect preferences to citizens on grounds of race, colour of skin, political, religious or other beliefs, gender and ethnic and social origin, personal wealth, place of residence, language or other characteristics”.
Article 300 prescribes liability for importing, production and dissemination of products propagating the cult of violence and cruelty, racial, national and religious intolerance and discrimination. Punishment according to this article is up to three years of imprisonment. Besides, motives of racial, ethnic or religious hatred and discord are viewed as aggravating circumstances pursuant to Article 3 part 67 of the General part of the Criminal Code; it is also a qualifying element of a number of other crimes such as murder, infliction of injury, torture and physical assault.

The Law on Minorities

Pursuant to Article 1 of the Law “On National Minorities of Ukraine” of 25 June 1992 No. 2494-XII (further revised and amended), “Ukraine shall guarantee equal political, social economic and cultural rights and freedoms to all citizens irrespective of their ethnic origin, as well as support to the development and expression of national identities. All citizens of Ukraine enjoy equal protection of the State. In ensuring the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, the State assumes that they are inalienable part of the universal human rights”. Article 9 prescribes that “Citizens of Ukraine who belong to national minorities have the right to be elected or appointed at equal grounds to any positions in legislative, executive, judicial, local self-government bodies, army, at enterprises, establishments and organisations”. Article 18 also proclaims that “any direct or indirect restriction of rights and freedoms of citizens on ethnic ground is prohibited and punished according to law”.

Electoral Legislation

In Ukraine, depending on the level of representative bodies, elections are divided into national (elections of President and Verkhovna Rada [the Parliament] of Ukraine) and local (elections of the deputies of local councils of different levels, city and village mayors, etc). Most of the elections in Ukraine are held based upon proportional or mixed electoral systems. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and provincial, district and city councils are elected in such a way. Political parties play decisive role in the proportional electoral system.
The Law of Ukraine “On Political Parties” of 5 April 2001 No. 2365-III does not presuppose restrictions to the representatives of national minorities in creating their own political parties. Membership in political parties is free, and the parties cannot restrict it for persons belonging to certain nationalities.
The Law of Ukraine “On Election of People’s Deputies of Ukraine” of 17 November 2011 No.4061-VI (later revised and amended) guarantees equal electoral rights to citizens, among other, irrespective of their ethnicity. The law also contains guarantees against such a division of single-member constituencies that would “disperse” the vote of national minorities and prevent them from electing “their” candidates. Article 18 specifies that “the borders of single-member constituencies are defined taking into consideration the borders of administrative-territorial units, interests of territorial communities, and the settlement of national minorities at certain territories. Administrative-territorial units with compact settlement of particular national minorities and bordering each other shall constitute one electoral constituency. If in neighbouring administrative-territorial units the number of voters belonging to national minorities is higher than needed to form one electoral constituency, such constituencies are formed in a way that in one of them voters belonging to national minorities form the majority of voters of given constituency”.
The Law of Ukraine “On Local Elections” of 14 July 2015 No. 595-VIII does not set out special preferences to the representatives of national minorities. Article 4 of the law prescribes equality of rights and opportunities to participate in electoral process that is ensured through prohibition of privileges and restrictions for candidates on various grounds (race, colour of skin, political, religious and other beliefs, ethnic and social origin, wealth, place of residence, language and other characteristics).

Other Legislation

Provisions on equality are included in a number of branch laws. In the Labour Code 1984 (subsequently revised and amended) it is stated that the state ensures equality of employment and labour rights of all citizens irrespective of their origin, social and property status, race and ethnicity, gender, language, political views and religious affiliation, occupation, place of residence and other circumstances (Article 21).
The Law of Ukraine “On Public Service” of 16 December 1993 No. 3723-XII guaranteed equal access to public service but did not contain direct prohibition of discriminative behaviour, and only mentioned ensuring the rights and lawful interest of citizens. A similar approach is present in the new Law “On Public Service” of 10 December 2015 No. 889-VIII; in this act, though, appeared provisions on the obligation of public servants to have the command of minority and regional languages in the scope required by law and by the conditions of public service, and about the necessity to prevent „discrimination of the state language“.
The Law of Ukraine “On Television and Radio Broadcasting” of 21 December 1993 No. 3759-XII (as amended by the law No. 1715-VІІІ of 1 November 2016) in its Article 6 stipulates the inadmissibility of violation of the freedom of television and radio outlets and specifically prohibits propaganda and incitment to national, racial and religious feud and hatred, and propaganda of exceptional nature, superiority or deficiency of people based among other on their belonging to a particular nation or race. The National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine has the powers to promtly react to violations, take measures to terminate them and impose administrative sanctions. The Law of Ukraine “On Print Mass Media (Press) in Ukraine” of 8 December 1992 No. 2783-XII prohibits inciting of racial, national and religious feud and presupposes an option of closing down print media outlet on decision of the court in case of violation of this provision (Article 18). The Law “On Advertising” of 3 July 1996 No.270/96-ВР (Article 8) bans commercials of discriminative character. The Law of Ukraine “On the Condemnation of Communist and National-Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes and Prohibition of Propaganda of their Symbols” of 9 April 2015 No. 317-VIII set out liability for demonstration and propaganda of communist and Nazi symbols.

Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=83860What are Minority Rights?http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7659&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7659&lang=en#respondSun, 08 Jan 2017 16:24:26 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7659 ECMI is happy to announce the release of its educational cartoon “What are minority rights?”. The cartoon answers the question by introducing the basic principles of minority rights and referring to the key provisions of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). The cartoon was produced by the ECMI in cooperation with

The awareness-raising educational cartoon “What are the minority rights?” has three key ambitions: to educate, to promote respect for diversity and its normative framework, and in the longer term, to have an impact on the wider policy level throughout Europe.

Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=76590Online now: ECMI Annual Programme 2017http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7565&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7565&lang=en#respondFri, 23 Dec 2016 15:37:55 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7565Читати далі Online now: ECMI Annual Programme 2017]]>The Annual Programme 2017 of the ECMI is now online! The publication contains information on planned activities and initiatives in research and Action for 2017.
What is the ECMI team planning for 2017? What are our Focus Points? How do we plan to promote minority rights throughout the next year? The ECMI Annual Programme 2017 outlines few highlights for the upcoming year, including ongoing research and action oriented projects and the planned initiatives within the ECMI research clusters. ECMI Eastern Partnership Programme (EPP), the ECMI involvement in Western Balkans, offices in Kosovo and Caucasus, research initiatives at headquarters in Flensburg, training activities and newly launched Erasmus+ project on “Teaching in Diversity” are among some of the milestones.
Traditionally, the ECMI Director Prof. Dr. Tove Malloy welcomes the readers in a foreword: “Welcome to our Annual Programme 2017. The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) is entering its third decade of work with a number of new skills and enhanced knowledge acquired to meet the demands of the ever-changing landscape of minority issues and protection in Europe. The rise of populism in a number of countries across Europe requires us to focus more on democratic education and awareness raising as well as media ethics, while the processes of EU association and in/direct conditionality calls for institution building in transition countries. Through knowledge transfer, we will continue to disseminate good practice examples and teach the European legal framework on minority protection. Eastern Europe will be our main focus again in 2017 with intensified activities in Ukraine. We have also returned to the Western Balkans with a special focus on social rights, and this initiative will be developed further in 2017. As always, we welcome dialogue with our partners and look forward to cooperating with you.”Download the ECMI Annual Programme 2017Access the ECMI Publications DatabaseДжерело: http://www.infoecmi.eu/index.php/online-now-ecmi-annual-programme-2017/
Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=75650EPP team is in Ukraine: functions and competences of executive bodies responsible for minority policyhttp://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7560&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7560&lang=en#respondWed, 14 Dec 2016 07:33:27 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7560Читати далі EPP team is in Ukraine: functions and competences of executive bodies responsible for minority policy]]>What are the executive bodies responsible for minority policy? How do they function? These are the main topics of the current EPP seminars taking place on 12-14 December 2016 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The EPP seminar on functions and competences of bodies of executive power responsible for minority policy has started yesterday in Kyiv. Dr. Alexander Osipov, the ECMI Senior Research Associate and Academic Director of the ECMI Eastern Partnership Programme (EPP) talked about the main concepts and definitions related to minority issues, along with the main problems and questions connected to the statistics in this field. Today Danish Ambassador in Ukraine Mr. Christian Dons Christensen gave welcoming speech.
The seminar is organized in cooperation with the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and will host lectures by international experts as well as presentations by representatives from the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.
Dr. Detlev Rein will give a presentation on systems of cooperation between a state and national minorities, focusing on the case of Germany. Dr. Rein is an independent researcher in the field of minority protection and current (2016 to 2020) member of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. He had been a member of CAHROM and MGS-ROM, member, Chair (2005-2006), and Vice-Chair of DH-MIN (all CoE), Head of the German National Contact Point for the Implementation of National Roma Strategies (EU), and deputy member of the Board of the European Centre for Minority Issues (Flensburg) (2000-2014).
Dr. Petar Teofilović will give a presentation on national minorities and the experience of Serbia. Dr. Petar Teofilović is an Associate Professor for Human Rights Protection, Constitutional, Criminal and Administrative Law at the University of Novi Sad. From 2001 to 2003, he served as senior advisor at the Provincial Secretariat for National Minorities in Vojvodina. In 2003, he was appointed Provincial Ombudsman, becoming the first ombudsman in Serbia. For his contribution to human rights protection, Dr. Teofilović received the honor of being selected as Person of the Year in Serbia by the OSCE in 2006, and he was awarded the Konstantin Obradović prize by the Belgrade Center for Human Rights in 2007.
Follow the ECMI Eastern Partnership page or the EPP Facebook page for further updated from the project.
Джерело: http://www.infoecmi.eu/index.php/epp-team-ukraine-functions-competences/
Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=75600JEMIE Call for Papers: Minority Rights and the New Migrationhttp://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7555&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7555&lang=en#respondFri, 09 Dec 2016 10:20:19 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7555Читати далі JEMIE Call for Papers: Minority Rights and the New Migration]]>The Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE) invites articles for a speсial issue on “Minority Rights and the New Migration”. Deadline: 01 February 2017.

During the past several decades, and especially at present, throughout Europe the traditional nation-state has been challenged by rapidly increasing ethnic diversity. European countries have increasingly become less homogeneous and more pluralistic. The past few years have seen the arrival of millions of refugees and economic migrants, a trend that continues today. This special issue will focus on the impact and implications of this most recent influx on the possible (re)definition of “minority rights”.
Relating to this general theme, the following specific topics could be addressed:Differential state recognition of “minority rights” for different types of ethnic/linguistic/cultural minorities:
Are state policies to be directed differently toward traditional “national minorities” and “indigenous minorities”, longer-settled ethnic groups lacking a territorial base (including “metropolitan minorities” having a former or extant colonial origin), diaspora minorities (such as Roma, who may or may not be considered a “national minority”), new migrants and refugees from “non-traditional” origins, etc.?The possible effect of the “new migration” on attitudes and changing state policies toward “national minorities”:
Are state policies toward “national minorities” changing? Are they likely to be affected by nationalistic recriminations stimulated by the “new migration”, adding to the ethnic complexity within traditional nation-states?Whether new refugees and economic migrants may be entitled to the same special rights as longer-established minorities, including both regional minority populations and older ethnic minority populations concentrated within urban areas:
Given the increasing complexity of defining ethnic minorities within European countries (ranging from ethnic groups/nationalities claiming a traditional homeland to the current influx of new migrants – both economic migrants and refugees), how does or should state policy differentially recognize minority rights?The policy implications of the “new migration” serving to reinforce long-existing urban ethnic concentrations in certain neighbourhoods, and possibly to develop new concentrations:
The historic “national minorities” emphasize preservation of their traditional territories, languages and cultures as a basic right, whereas new migrants are subjected more to a policy of integration than cultural maintenance or geographical concentration (although certain concessions may be made, at various levels of government, to longer-settled primarily urban minorities for at least some education, services, etc. in their traditional languages).Recognition of “minority rights” within traditional or re-established nation-states compared to states built on the basis of ethnic pluralism in Europe:
Most countries in Europe developed historically as virtual nation-states; moreover some which had formerly been an integral part of ethnic federations based on more than one nationality have more recently become independent nation-states. The concept of the nation-state has implied a significant degree of presumed ethnic homogeneity, with relatively limited national government interest in or appreciation of ethnic pluralism and diversity. Some European countries have varying degrees of political recognition of historic ethnic minorities (often considered as regional or localized populations with varying degrees of self-government or autonomy, yet still within broader nation-states dominated by a particular ethnicity), while relatively few countries could still be considered officially bicultural or multicultural at the national level.Multiculturalism/ethnic pluralism policies in Europe compared to primarily immigrant-origin countries with diverse populations (including indigenous) beyond Europe:

How and why do European national or sub-national/regional policies differ from primarily immigrant-origin countries (such as Canada) which emphasize a broader multiculturalism policy inclusive of all ethnicities?

Submission Guidelines

This special Issue will be guest-edited by Dr. Alan B. Anderson, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
All contributions will undergo a rigorous peer review process, based on initial editor screening and blind review by a minimum of two anonymous referees. Submissions should be prepared in accordance with the Style Guide of the Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe. Please send all submissions and inquiries to Tamara Hoch ( hoch@ecmi.de), by 1 February 2017.
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About the Journal
The Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE) is a peer-reviewed electronic journal edited under the auspices of the European Centre for Minority Issues. JEMIE is a multi-disciplinary journal which addresses minority issues across a broad range of studies, such as ethnopolitics, democratization, conflict management, good governance, participation, minority issues and minority rights.

Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=75550Khalavka T. Elucidation of the definition «national minority» as an object of a state national ethnic policyhttp://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7662&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7662&lang=en#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 19:46:51 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7662Читати далі Khalavka T. Elucidation of the definition «national minority» as an object of a state national ethnic policy]]>Problem setting
The term «national minority» is widely used in the legislative base of Ukraine as well as in scientific works of a great number of scientists. However, the context of the meaning is quite different in various normative acts and scientific discourses. This fact, in its turn, leads to the absence of a concrete definition of the main object of a state ethno national policy – «national minorities».

Recent research and publications analysis
Recent publications on the subject matter are represented in the research works of the outstanding Ukrainian and foreign scientists: V.Yevtukh, J. Jackson-Preece, F.Capotorti, O. Kartunov, P.Nadolishniy, V.Troschynsky аnd V.Yakubova.

Paper objective
The article has as its goal giving the definitions of the categories comprising the object of «state ethno national policy», namely the concept «national minority» and introducing a new concept «kin minority» into a scientific discourse. There has been carried out the analysis of the modern normative legal base of Ukraine, all-European normative documents and recommendations and interpreting of the term by Ukrainian and foreign researches .

Paper main body
The author has surveyed scientific literature and legislative base in the context of defining the term «national minority». It has been noted that the principle difference in various authors’ points of view lies in the question of including migrant representatives in national minorities. Thus, according to the UN recommendations and J. Jackson-Preece and F.Capotorti’s points of view migrants belong to national minorities. From the other point of view, the Recommendations of the Council of Europe (Recommendation 1255 (1995) on the protection of the rights of national minorities) and law project of the Conception of state ethno policy in Ukraine by M. Jemilev indicate the necessity of maintaining longstanding, firm and lasting ties with that state, as a precondition for receiving a status of a national minority.
The last statement appeals to the author and has been used in elucidating the definitions «kin state» and «kin- minority».

Conclusions of the research
The author has defined the «kin-minority» as minority living in the border region with the «kin-state» and having close cultural and political relations with it.
Taking into consideration the fact that the problem is rather controversial, we assume that the terms «kin-minority» and «kin-state» will not be used in legislature. However, they may be used in a scientific sphere as well as in the branch of public administration.

Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=76620Call for papers: ECMI conference “Available mechanisms for combating discrimination and the protection of national minorities in the eastern borderland of the European Union, and their effectiveness at the local level”.http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7569&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7569&lang=en#respondFri, 18 Nov 2016 17:43:26 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7569Читати далі Call for papers: ECMI conference “Available mechanisms for combating discrimination and the protection of national minorities in the eastern borderland of the European Union, and their effectiveness at the local level”.]]>The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) will hold a conference titled “Available Mechanisms for Combating Discrimination and the Protection of National Minorities in the Eastern Borderland of the European Union, and their Effectiveness at the Local Level”. The conference is organized within the framework of the ECMI Eastern Partnership Programme and will be held on 17-18 May 2017 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The organizers invite speakers from Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine to give a brief (up to 10 min) presentation within the thematic framework of the conference.
The ECMI calls for paper proposals on the following topics:
– Experience in monitoring hate speech and ethnic discrimination at the local level; – Combating discrimination and segregation in the school system; – The development of bilingual education and protection of the right to use minority languages ​​in the school system; – Experience in intercultural learning and the development of tolerance at the local level; – Experience in civil campaigns aimed at combating discrimination and the protection of minorities; – Experience in providing legal aid to individuals and non-governmental organizations with regard to discrimination and protection of minorities at the local level; – Experience of cooperation between national minority organizations and human rights NGOs on the issues of non-discrimination and protection of minorities at the local level; – Experience of cooperation between NGOs and governmental bodies and municipal authorities on the issues of non-discrimination and protection of minorities at the local level.
The ECMI invites governmental and municipal officials; members and employees of non-governmental organizations; researchers, teachers and students at MA and PhD level of educational institutions; and all other people concerned with the issues of equality and ethnic diversity from Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine to submit their proposals. Only proposals from people permanently residing in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine will be considered.
Please send your electronic application in English or Russian to the ECMI staff members Alexander Osipov and Hanna Vasilevich to both emails: osipov@ecmi.de and vasilevich@ecmi.de.
The application must include:
the presentation title,
an abstract (up to 300 words), and
a brief (up to 300 words) biographical note about the author, including the information on education, professional interests, and professional and social activities.
A sample of a biographical note can be found on the website of the ECMI Eastern Partnership Programme – http://ecmi-epp.org/?page_id=21.
The deadline of submission of applications is 10 January 2017.
The ECMI reserves the right to select the applications; only selected applicants will be contacted by the organizers; the selection results will be announced by 1 February 2017.
The invited applicants will be requested to submit their papers by 31 March 2017 in English or Russian; the lengths of a paper shall not exceed 4 pages (Times New Roman; 1.5 line spacing; font size 12).
Organizers will cover travel expenses and accommodation in Kyiv, Ukraine, of the finally approved speakers. Accommodation will be provided only for the dates of the conference.Джерело: http://ecmi-epp.org/?p=2880
Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=75690T.Khalavka, O.Krivtsova, V.Staryk. MINORITIES IN BORDER REGION: STATE REGULATION OF UKRAINIAN MINORITY RIGHTS IN ROMANIAhttp://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7897&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7897&lang=en#respondWed, 02 Nov 2016 13:52:03 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7897“ Nation is a daily plebiscite“

Ernest Renan

Abstract. The results of the Romanian Census (November 2011) have been recently published. Scholars and politicians in Europe might be interested in the results, because comparison with the previous Censuses enables to trace the processes of ethno genesis and acculturation of large cross-border

Abstract. The results of the Romanian Census (November 2011) have been recently published. Scholars and politicians in Europe might be interested in the results, because comparison with the previous Censuses enables to trace the processes of ethno genesis and acculturation of large cross-border minority – Ukrainian community in Romania. The national minority has survived in spite of the powerful assimilation pressure of the host state and the lack of a state support from the kin state.

The authors have analyzed the census of population in Romania starting from the year 1930 and taking the latest census of 2011, in the context of change in demographic size of the Ukrainian population. The census data were connected with changes in ethno-national policy of the Romanian government.

How does the real situation regarding the rights of Ukrainians in political, educational and religious spheres in Romania look like? The authors made an attempt to give satisfactory answers to these and other questions.

In 1991 Anthony Smith published ”National Identity”, one of his famous books. The author explained the theory of “civic” and “ethnic” types of nations and nationalism. Nationalist movements try to unite and integrate often disparate ethnic population within the border regions into a new political community in the civic-territorial model of the nation. The movements try to expand the territory of the state by including their ethnic kinsmen abroad according to the ethno-genealogical model.

It is of great interest to investigate possible interplays of nations with different types of national formation within the border regions where they closely contact. A civic-territorial model of nation often cold-shoulders its ethnic kin minorities living abroad. The states with such type of formation of national projects often face aggressive ethnic pan-nationalism of their neighbours. It does not give them the possibility to fully integrate the representatives of national minorities living on their territory.

Though it is rather difficult to draw a boundary between the ethno-genealogical models of nationalism in the modern world, especially in Europe, one can trace certain tendencies indicating this or that model in Ukraine-Romania-Moldova triangle. As the rest, Ukraine and Moldova have to formulate a weak ethno national policy having more feature characteristics of a civic-territorial model on the reason of political and ethnic non-consolidation. Romanian politic elite has not got rid of the complex of “Great Romania” (Romania Mare) on the other hand. It is trying to support pan-nationalist movements of their kin-minorities in neighbouring states, particularly in the above-mentioned ones.

If we combine two models of nationhood with four strategies of acculturation according to J.Berry (1997) we can get some models of formation of inter-ethnic relations in border regions – (Table 1). The models have been explored in the Ukrainian – Romanian border regions.

Table 1. Models of acculturation in border regions

Type of nation in

a kin-state

Type of nation

in a residence state (host country)

Civic

Ethnic

Civic

non –conflict integration

assimilation

Ethnic

segregation with elements of irredentism

segregation with conflicts

1.Legislation of Romania in the Sphere of National Minorities

A political regime has cardinally changed three times in Romania for the last eighty years, since the first, based on modern methods Census in this country in 1930. Romania has evolved from the monarchy to a communist dictatorship that ruled nearly half a century, and after a Revolution in 1989, the state accelerated the democratic development of which led her to membership in NATO and the EU.

In post- communist Romania the rights of ethnic minorities who live on its territory are legally regulated. Namely, in the Fundamental law of the country – the Constitution of Romania( 2003) it is mentioned that “Romania is the common and indivisible homeland of all its citizens, without any discrimination on account of race, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, sex, opinion, political adherence, property or social origin”. It is also written in the Constitution of Romania that “the State recognizes and guarantees the right of persons belonging to national minorities to the preservation, development and expression of their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity. The protection measures taken by the Romanian State for the preservation, development and expression of identity of the persons belonging to national minorities shall conform to the principles of equality and non-discrimination in relation to the other Romanian citizens” [1].

It should be also mentioned that Romania pays considerable attention to its Diaspora. In the Constitution of the state it is mentioned that the state supports strengthening of connections with the Romanians who live abroad and work for protection, development and expression of ethnic, cultural, language and religious uniqueness and adhere to the laws of the country whose citizens they are.

Romania ratifies a Frame convention of national minorities’ rights by the Law of Romania (April 29, 1995 №33). The Convention is the first multilateral legal document which has a force of law and is called to defend the rights of ethnic minorities, strengthens the respective principles in many spheres of social life. It ensures the absence of discrimination, promotes equality, encourages protection of culture, religion, language and traditions, freedom of meetings, speech, conscience and religion, access to mass media, relation and border cooperation, ethnic communities’ participation in economic, cultural and social spheres[2].

The Advisory Committee of the Council of Europe on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (2012) has noted that Romania has continued its efforts to protect national minorities. A number of positive steps have been taken in this area. The adoption of the Law on Education in 2011 provides Romania with a more detailed legal framework for education and establishes legal guarantees for persons belonging to national minorities. Romanian Parliament has still not adopted the draft Law on the Status of National Minorities which has been under consideration in various forms. The Advisory Committee noted that “consequently, persons belonging to national minorities find it difficult to set up organizations of national minorities and to benefit from particular provisions in the electoral legislation which establish favourable conditions for organizations of national minorities currently represented in the Council of National Minorities”[3].

In 2007 Romania ratified European Charter of regional and minority languages. According to the Law on the ratification of the Charter, its regulations are applicable to the following languages on the territory of Romania: Bulgarian, German, Russian, Serbian, Slovakian, Turkish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Czech, Albanian, Armenian, Greek, Yiddish, Italian, Macedonian, Polish, Rom, Ruthen and Tatar[4].

In 2011 Romania adopted a new Law on the national education which presupposes the right for national minorities to get education in their native language. Article 45 of the Law claims, “People who belong to national minorities have a right to study and have education in their native language at all levels, types and forms of education. Depending on local needs there may be formed, at the request of parents and group guardians, forms or schools with pupils who study in the language of a minority…”[5]. Besides, the Law presupposes that national minorities have a right for their representation proportional to the number of forms in school administration and county school inspections.

Bilateral agreements are an important element of normative regulation of ethnic minorities’ rights. The Agreement between Ukraine and Romania of good-neighbourly relations and cooperation was signed in 1997 in Chernivtsi. Article 13, comprising one-third of the Agreement, is dedicated to the rights of ethnic minorities. According to the article, the Sides decide to apply international norms and standards defining the rights of people who belong to national minorities, namely those norms and standards which are mentioned in the Frame Convention of European Council about protection of national minorities and also in other documents. At the same time it should be understood that these recommendations do not apply to collective rights and do not oblige the Agreement Sides to give the respective persons the right for special status of a territorial autonomy, founded on the ethnic criteria.

Ukraine and Romania promised to create equal conditions for people who belong to Ukrainian minority in Romania and Romanian minority in Ukraine to study their native language. At the same time both countries acknowledged the duty of the representatives of national minorities to be loyal to the host state and to its legislation.

2.Analysis of the population census data

Ukrainians are one of the most numerous (the fourth) national minorities in Romania. At the same time it should be mentioned that Romania has officially acknowledged ethnic groups of Ukrainians, namely “rusyns” and “hutzuls” as separate national minorities. Notwithstanding their scanty size (less that 1 thousand persons according to the census of 2012) “Rusyns” even received a representation in the Minorities Council in the Romanian Parliament.

The absolute majority of Ukrainians in Romania (about 80 per cent of the total population size) live in the regions bordering on Ukraine – Southern Bukovyna and Maramuresh area. This circumstance does not enable to consider Ukrainians in Romania being a diaspora community, instead of their long, several centuries compact residence on the territories neighbouring with Ukraine. It makes possible treating them as an autochthonous ethnic community which appeared to be beyond the territory of Ukraine only because of territorial demarcation of the XXth century.

According to the 2011 population census in Romania, 51703 people who declared their nationality as Ukrainians, live in this country. About 1000 people who identified their nationality as “rusyns” or “hutzuls” were specified in the column “other nationalities”. Nowadays, Ukrainians compactly inhabit four historical regions of Romania: 32631 people live in Maramuresh area (present counties of Maramuresh and Satu-Mare, 9848 people inhabit Banat (present counties of Timis, Arad and Karash-Severin), 6382 people – in Southern Bukovyna (present of Suceava County and part of the county of Botoshany), 1317 people – in Dobrudzh (the present County of Tulcea).

Comparison of the data of the 2011 population census of Romania with similar demographic data of censuses in the years of 1930, 1956, 1966, 1977, 1992 and 2002 enables us to analyse the tendency of change in the number of Ukrainians in Southern Bukovyna. It can be done in the context of similar changes of the number of ethnic Romanians and all the population. It also makes possible to compare the course of demographic processes in Romania and counties: Suceava and Maramuresh.

The authors suggested applying the Ip index of the Romanian population number for graphic comparison of demographic indicators of various ethnic communities incomparable by the scale which is calculated as a correlation of the data of six censuses with the respective data of the census from 1930. The population census in 1930 was taken as the basic one as it was the first to cover all the territories of modern Romania and contained the majority of demographic indicators applied in modern population censuses.

In general, demographic growth of all the population and the titular nation – Romanians and some other ethnic groups, in particular Ukrainians, was observed in Romania from 1930 to 1992. Thus, from 1930 to 1992 the population of the country (calculated within the boundaries of modern Romania) grew from 14,3 million to 22,8 million people (1,58 times more), Romanian population increased from 11,1 million to 16,2 million people (1,8 times more). However, the number of Ukrainians increased only from 45 thousand to 65 thousand people (1,42 times more). After 1992 the dominant demographic tendency in Romania was the decrease of the population size of the country. In 2011 population of Romania returned to the same indicators as they were in 1966.

The demographic situation in Romania during the last 80 years is described by polynomial trends in (Figure 1) in the first approximation.

Figure1. Dynamics of change in the index of the population (Ip) of Romania includesnon official data (1930-2011)

General tendencies have been described above. A more detailed analysis of changes in the number of Ukrainian community of Romania reveals deviation from the polynomial trends of total population. The1966 and 1977 population censuses register sudden decrease of the number of Ukrainians by 12 per cent while the number of Romanians grows by 27 per cent. However, the 1992 population census indicated 20 per cent growth of Ukrainian population in Romania, which three times exceeded the similar indicator of population growth in the country.

It is impossible to find usual demographic explanations to such dramatic fluctuations which were happening during the life of one generation of Ukrainians in Romania, since at that time Ukrainian population of Romania suffered neither deportation nor repatriation (like in Poland), it did not starve either as people did in USSR. The reasons should be looked for in anti-Ukrainian policy of Ceausescu regime, during whose governing there were done the population censuses in 1966 and 1977 (Rendyuk, 2010:93). The destruction of Ukrainian-language education and Ukrainian public and religious life in Romania deprived Ukrainian community of any perspective of national development. As a result, thousands of Ukrainians who lived in the counties of Suceava, Botoshany and Tulcha stopped declaring their Ukrainian identity during the censuses in 1966 and 1977, moving to the category of “non-official” Ukrainians of Romania. The ruin of the communist regime in 1989 and Romania transition to a democratic development enabled more than 10 thousand of “non-official” Ukrainians to declare their Ukrainian identity in the1992 population census.

However, a considerable part of “non-official” Ukrainians of Romania have not returned to their own identity for this or that reason. A probable number of such “non-official” Ukrainians is illustrated in the respective polynomial trend made with consideration of the general demographic situation in Romania in the period between 1930 and 2011 and the coefficient of natural assimilation of Ukrainian population of Romania. There was used an assumption that assimilation of Ukrainian population in Romania was going on in favour of Romanian community. Taking it into consideration, we can see that demographic tendencies of Ukrainian community development in Romania suffered a considerable deformation under the influence of governmental assimilation policy of Ceausescu regime in 1960s-1980s. It caused an irreversible demographic shift – index of the number of Ukrainians if Romania made 1,12, while the average indicator of the population index of Romania made 1,33, and Romanians – 1, 51.

The process of national development of the Ukrainian community of Southern Bukovyna and Maramuresh area took place according to different scenarios, notwithstanding almost centennial residence of Bukovynians and Maramuresh Ukrainians in the neighbouring counties within the boundaries of one state and one legislative regulation of national minorities’ rights. The most vivid confirmation of the said is that though during the last 80 years there were no forced migrations or ethnic purges, the number of Ukrainians of Southern Bukovyna decreased several times and grew inconsiderably in Maramuresh area.

In the two neighbouring regions of the country, both of which border on Ukraine – Maramuresh area and Southern Bukovyna, at the beginning of the XXth century there lived approximately the same number of Ukrainians. Most of them lived in compact settlements (Ukrainians constituted 80-90per cent), the national centres of which were the towns of Seret in Southern Bukovyna and Siget in Maramuresh area with numerous and extended Ukrainian communities. However, the situation cardinally changed during the previous century.

At the beginning of the XXI century according to the official data of Romanian censuses the number of Ukrainians in Maramuresh County is four times bigger than the number of Ukrainians in Suceava County.

The demographic situation in Maramuresh County during the last 80 years is described in (Table 3) and polynomial trends are submitted in (Figure 2). The Diagram shows that Ukrainians of Maramuresh County managed not merely to preserve their identity in Romania under various governments which often carried the policy quite unfavourable for national minorities. Moreover, the number of Ukrainians in Maramuresh area increased symmetrically to the increase of the number of Romanians, even outgoing the dynamics of population growth of the whole county. Decrease in the number of Ukrainians of the county registered by the 2002 and 2011 population censuses can be perfectly explained by the tendencies of general demographic crisis in Romania in 2000s.

Figure 2. Dynamics of change in the index of the population (Ip)of Maramuresh County (1930-2011)

The situation in Maramuresh area may serve as an example of an integral model of aculturing of national minorities. Their representatives speak fluently both the national Ukrainian and state Romanian languages, preserving their own national identity. Maramuresh Ukrainians, having got the right to study the native language and use it in everyday religious and administrative life, managed to preserve their own national and linguistic identity. Due to mainly Romanian teaching at schools, they managed to integrate completely into the Romanian society, having avoided the conflict between national Ukrainian and Romanian political (civil) identities.

Such state of affairs may serve an example for Romanian community in Ukraine, which is not having the possibility to study the state (Ukrainian) language at the appropriate level, appeared in the state of language segregation.

The censuses indicate one more difference between the two mentioned counties of Romania. In Maramuresh area the number of Ukrainians according to their national self-identification has always exceeded the number of Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians. In Southern Bukovyna the number of Ukrainian-speaking people exceeds the number of Ukrainians according to their nationality practically during each census.

The Romanian population censuses showed that starting from 1956 (even earlier) the most significant demographic losses among Ukrainians of Romania are registered in the Ukrainian community of Southern Bukovyna.

The last Austrian population census of Bukovyna in 1910 registered approximately 34 thousand people in Southern Bukovyna who identified Ukrainian as their native language. It is impossible to estimate the ethnic structure of the population in Southern Bukovyna in 1910 more accurately because a lot of former Ukrainian communities (Seliatyn, Shypit Kameralny and others) are separated nowadays by Ukrainian-Romanian border.

According to the census in Royal Romania in 1930, there lived 14 thousand Ukrainians in Southern Bukovyna (they were identified as Rusyns, Ruthens-Ukrainians, Hutzuls in the census), that constituted 3 per cent of the whole population. There were twice more Ukrainian-speaking people in this part of Romania – more than 24,5 thousand people. At the same time Ukrainians lived densely in 20 communes. According to modern censuses only 18 communes maintain Ukrainian trace, there is not a single Ukrainian in such villages as Briaza and Dzhemenia, and Ipoteshty. There disappeared a numerous community of Ukrainian-speaking Romanians. In the commune Melishivtsi there remained only a few persons of formerly almost 1000 Ukrainian-speaking community.

Thus, according to the 2002 census there lived 8514 persons in Suceava County, or 1,2 per cent from the general number of population who identified themselves as Ukrainians. In 2011 the number of such persons decreased almost by 3 thousand – 5698, or 0,9 per cent from the general portion of the population. At the same time in the county there decreased the portion of persons who acknowledge Ukrainian as their native language – from 8497 to 6071 persons in the year 2011.

The previously done analysis indicated the following tendencies: the number of people in Southern Bukovyna who officially acknowledge themselves as Ukrainians decreased by more than two times from 14 thousand to 5,8 thousand people for the last 80 years between the censuses of the years 1930 and 2011 and the number of officially Ukrainian-speaking people decreased by more than four times from 24,5 thousand to 6 thousand people.

Figure 3. Dynamics of change in the index of the population (Ip) of Suceava County (1930-2011)

At the same time there did not happen any mass migration of Ukrainians. It only testifies to mass assimilation which, notwithstanding the change of political regimes in Romanian state, acquired a steady character. The Ukrainian language and identity were not acknowledged at all (in 1930 Ukrainians were registered as Ruthens or Hutzuls) for the period of 80 year. Then for a short after-war period there was a temporary thaw, when the Ukrainian language was introduced in the county schools. Ukrainians of Southern Bukovyna suffered the greatest loss during the governing of Ceaucescu. After 1956 the trend of population index of Ukrainians acquired a clear falling character. Was it the consequence of ousting the Ukrainian language from educational institutions or just a mere assertion of a trend of establishing Romanian identity?

In Southern Bukovyna there appeared considerable discrepancies between official and non-official data about the number of Ukrainians – exactly in this part of Romania Ukrainians conceal their identity to a larger extent. A famous expert of International Institute for Humanitarian-Political Research Volodymyr Bruter (2000) calculated the number of Ukrainians in Suceava County in the middle 90s of the previous century in his article “Ukrainians of Southern Bukovyna: problems and guidelines”. He did it on the basis of the data about the usage of native language in everyday life and the results of voting for the lists of Ukrainian national organizations at local and parliamentary elections. The Ukrainian minority makes about 37-45 thousand people in Suceava County according to the researcher. In his opinion, great discrepancy between official and non-official data about the number of Ukrainians in Southern Bukovyna is connected with their double Romanian-Ukrainian identification. V. Bruter thinks that Ukrainians in official communication with the authority, e.g. during the population census, prefer Romanian identification which is most expected (desirable) by the authority.

According to non-official data of the Union of Ukrainians in Romania, there live approximately 50 thousand Ukrainians in Southern Bukovyna.The number is based on the information about the number of population who speak Ukrainian in everyday life in certain settlements. The researcher of Ukrainian population of Southern Bukovyna Andrian Shyychuk at the beginning of 90s made a list of areas of Suceava and Botushany counties where Ukrainians live densely. He divided them into three groups :

2) areas, where Ukrainians are mixed with Romanians but preserved their native language;

3) areas, where Ukrainians are totally assimilated by Romanian population.

However, the data of the census confirmed that even in group I there happened an irreversible loss of Ukrainian identity in a considerable number of villages and communes. The results of the announced censuses of 2002 and 2011 indicate that the number of persons who identify themselves as Ukrainians and Ukrainian-speaking persons inevitably decreases from census to census. The tendencies of assimilating Ukrainians continued and in some places strengthened for the last ten years. According to the census in 2011 Ukrainians constitute the majority only in two communes of the county: Balkivtsi (70per cent) and Izvory Suceavej (54per cent).The number of Ukrainians decreased twice from 1343 persons to 698 in Ulma.

In general, describing the dynamics of the number of Ukrainian population in Suceava County for the last inter-census period from 2002 to 2011, the following tendencies can be mentioned: in communes Balkivtsi, Kyrlibaba and Siret there decreased the number of Ukrainian population which correlated with the general demographic processes in these settlements, which did not influence considerably the portion of Ukrainian population in these settlements. However, in other communes the process of decreasing the number of Ukrainian population was accompanied by a considerable decrease of its portion in the general number of population. These processes were of especially impressive scale in the communes Moldova Sulitsa and Mushenitsa, where the number and the portion of Ukrainians decreased by 2,5 times; in communes Arbore, Kalafindeshty (Serbivtsi) and Vatra Moldovitsey – by three times. Ukrainians suffered the greatest loss in the communes Dermeneshty and Moldovitsa where for the period of ten years their number decreased almost by 5 times.

According to the census of 2011 Southern Bukovyna ‘received’ Turiatka – the village of Chernivtsi oblast where Ukrainian-speaking Romanians live. In Hutzul commune Ulma, where the number of Ukrainians decreased from 2001 by 645 persons and constitutes 698 persons, live simultaneously 1156 persons who acknowledged Ukrainian as their native language. This is another example of double (Ukrainian-Romanian), or even triple Ukrainian-Romanian-Hutzul identification of a significant group of population.

The only exception of the general tendency became the results of the census in 2011 in Hutzul commune Izvory Suceavej, where the portion of Ukrainian and Ukrainian-speaking population increased by 2per cent.

In general inconsolable processes for Ukrainian population of Southern Bukovyna became another confirmation of the conclusions of OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities who in 2006 in his official letter to addresses of foreign affairs ministers of Ukraine and Romania, namely in the recommendation section mentioned verbatim the following:

”The situation of the Ukrainian minority in the Romanian region of Suceava is characterized by strong assimilative tendencies. A considerable number of persons with an ethnic Ukrainian background declared themselves Romanian rather than Ukrainian in the 2002 census, although in private many of them preserve some, albeit weakly developed, Ukrainian cultural identity. The majority of Ukrainians cannot read and write Ukrainian and prefer their children receive an entirely Romanian language education. While voluntary assimilation would be a fair characterization of the situation today, its root causes go back to the repressive policies of the pre-1989 Romanian Communist regime. In this view, the Romanian authorities have a particular responsibility to provide necessary opportunities and encourage those Ukrainians who wish to preserve, develop and strengthen their ethno-cultural identity in parallel to their civic identity of Romanian citizens” [6].

The last census indicated one more tendency: in Suceava County there appeared a Ruthen community represented by 128 persons in the commune Dermaneshty. Taking into consideration that in 2001 in this commune there did not live any Ruthen, the number of Ukrainians constituted 298 people, we have grounds to assert that part of Ukrainians changed their modern Ukrainian identity to pre-modern Ruthen one. There happened the so called inverse ethnic evolution. Its consequence was not only five-time decrease of the number of Ukrainians in this community but also decrease of the total number of East-Slavic population of the commune Dermaneshty by 1,5 times for the period of ten years.

4.The Basic Factors of Ethnic Development of Ukrainians in Romania

“Priests and teachers played the main role both for Romanians and Ukrainians”, asserted the famous German researcher Mariana Hausleitner (2001) in her analysis of national projects in Bukovyna at the beginning of the XXth century. On the turning point of the XXth – XXIst centuries ethno-cultural, ethno-religious and ethno-political processes last with a more or less intensity, mutually influencing each other and acquiring new and sometimes unexpected forms.

5.Education

One of the most important elements of forming ethnic identity is ensuring educational rights for national minorities. After World War II in the villages and towns of densely inhabited residence of Ukrainians in Romania all school subjects were taught in Ukrainian. School was the centre of Ukrainian life: religious and national holidays, memorable days of great Ukrainians etc, were celebrated here. Positive influence of school on preserving Ukrainian identity is vividly represented in the data of 1956 census form. That year an increase in the number of Ukrainian population was registered by one-third in comparison with the census of 1948 in all counties of Romania. This increase took place in Southern Bukovyna and Maramuresh area.

Starting from 1964 all cultural-educational work of Ukrainians in Romania suffers from pursuit. Almost all schools with the Ukrainian language teaching were eliminated (there worked only a Ukrainian department in the secondary school in Siget). Ukrainian local family names were abolished to be used in publications.

In modern Romania there are no preschool institutions and primary, eight-year, secondary schools where teaching is done in Ukrainian. The Ukrainian language is taught as a subject (mostly optionally and at the written request of parents) in 63 schools in the areas of compact residence of Ukrainian minorities. Approximately seven thousand pupils study Ukrainian there. Inspectorates on the Ukrainian language training are formed in the counties: Maramuresh, Suceava, Botoshany, Satu Mare, Arad, Tymish, Tulcha, Karash Severyn. Ukrainian is studied in the following settlements:

Teaching in Ukrainian is conducted only in T. Shevchenko highschool (the town of Siget, Marmatsiey, Maramuresh area). The educational institution was revived in 1997. 660 pupils in 13 forms from pre-school to secondary education study in Ukrainian.

It is planned to renew a Ukrainian highschool by 2013 on the basis of Latsku Vode highschool (the town of Siret, Suceava County). At present, there are three Ukrainian forms at Latsku Vode highschool.

What concerns higher education there are departments of the Ukrainian language opened 50 years ago in three Romanian universities, including Bucharest University.10-15 students annually study at the departments.

6.Religion

The majority of the Ukrainian population in Romania was orthodox; Greek-Catholics prevailed mostly in Maramuresh area and in Banat. After the elimination of Greek-Catholic Church in Romania in 1948 the believers went over to orthodoxy. Orthodox Ukrainian Vicariate was revived in Romania in 1996, whose residence is located in the town of Siget-Marmaritsey. It constitutes 25 parishes uniting 52 thousand believers according to the church data. Orthodox Ukrainian Vicariate is under jurisdiction of Patriarchate of Romanian Orthodox Church. Divine services and sermons of Romanian Orthodox Church almost everywhere are given in Romanian. That is the reason why church remains one of the active means of Romanization.

There was renewed General Vicariate of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic church with a centre in the town of Radivtsi of Suceava County in 1996 in Romania. The church consists of Bukovynian (5 parishes), Maramuresh (5 parishes) Satu-Mare (7 parishes) deaneries, and also Banat County (2 parishes) and numbers approximately 6 thousand parishioners. The Sermons are mainly delivered in Ukrainian in Greek-Catholic church.

National organizationsandElections

A famous researcher of national movements in Eastern Europe, American sociologist Rogers Brubaker, having analyzed experience of institutionalizing Hungarian minority in Romania, mentioned that there exists a great “gap between national organizations (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania – author’s comment)” and the community (of Hungarians), which they allegedly represent»[2004: 24]. The gap between national organizations of Ukrainians in Romania and Ukrainian community is much deeper. The reasons for that situation will be explained further.

Three national-cultural organizations of Ukrainians were officially acting in Romania at one or other time: Union of Ukrainians in Romania (further – UUR), Democratic Alliance of Ukrainians in Romania and National Front of Ukrainians in Romania. It should be mentioned that the authority of Romania officially cooperate only with Union of Ukrainians in Romania (the first registered public organization), which has its centres in the place of compact residence of Ukrainians. It also has its representative in the Parliament of Romania and the main thing – it has a considerable state financing for statute activity. The other two public organizations of Ukrainians after unsuccessful attempts to receive the above mentioned preferences of the Romanian government haven’t been working actively in the recent time.

In Romania, unlike Ukraine, legislative preconditions for representation of national minorities are created in the Parliament. Such a norm has been in force since 1992 and has received approval in the new Law about elections to the chamber of deputies and Senate of Romania. The Law presupposes the right of ethnic communities that are represented in the Council of national minorities for representation in the lower chamber of the Parliament of Romania. According to the Law the representatives of national minorities are given 18 mandates out of 314. National-cultural societies of ethnic minorities are equated to the status of political parties by election legislation of Romania. To participate in elections, organizations of national minorities who are members of the Council of national minorities should submit a list of organization members to the Central Election Bureau. It must include not less than 15 per cent of the whole number of citizens, who, according to the last census, identified themselves with a certain national minority.

The list of the Union of Ukrainians in Romania (UUR) received support of 9338 electors at parliamentary elections 2012. Ukrainians are the fourth community of Romania according to the number of the population. However, the national list of UUR received 7353 votes, and this makes 2 thousand less than in 2008. The result is the twelfth one among national-cultural organizations. Such electoral “success” indicates low support of candidates from UUR among Ukrainian community. Having analyzed regional support of the UUR list, we encounter some more peculiarities. 482 electors from Maramuresh County (taking into consideration the fact that 30 thousand ethnic Ukrainians live here) and 599 voters from Suceava County (more than 6 thousand Ukrainians) voted for the UUR list. Simultaneously, UUR was actively supported by the residents of counties where there are few Ukrainians according to the census data. There were 476 votes for the UUR list (53 Ukrainians according to the census), 120 votes – in the County of Hargita (17 Ukrainians according to the census).

The election system, introduced in Romania, allowed both Ukrainians (50 thousand people) and Ruthens (100 times less) to have one mandate in the Parliament. It should be mentioned that the list of Ruthens receives more support from year to year. Thus, in 2012 it received 5203 votes, that makes almost 700 votes more than in 2008 and tens of times more than the number of Ruthens themselves. There lived 298 Ruthens in Romania according to the 2002 census.

Such electoral discrepancies to the census data make us think about the efficiency of election legislation of Romania, the section of giving preferences for representatives of national minorities.

Participation in the authorities

The Lund recommendations from the OSCE on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in public life and Ljubljana Guidelines on Integration of Diverse Societies recommend engaging representatives of national minorities in the work of public authorities. However, representatives of Ukrainian community have never been appointed to the leading posts in the authorities. Maximum that they managed to achieve was the level of advisers and ordinary workers. Especially blatant is the situation in Southern Bukovyna. Ukrainians not only weren’t engaged in the work in authorities, even in education departments Romanians were appointed to the positions of Ukrainian language inspectors and not Ukrainians (it’s mentioned in the monitoring report). The authority in Suceava district created such conditions that in Ukrainian villages Romanians were appointed to the positions of Primars, namely in the villages of Negostyna and Balkivtsi (where Ukrainians constitute more than 70% of the population, a Romanian, who does not know Ukrainian, was appointed Primar) .

Relation with kin-state

During the times of Ukraine being a member-state of USSR, different attention to Ukrainian Diaspora in Romania was paid in different times. In the after-war time systematic help to Ukrainians in Romania on the part of Ukraine was felt. There were given books, methodological manuals, fiction. During the first years of introducing Ukrainian schools in Romania, at the beginning of the school year the majority of pupils of the respective schools received high-quality books (both in content and typography) for free and this contributed to formation of positive image of Ukraine as a historic Motherland of all Ukrainians. However, later on, Ukrainian SSR reduced help for Ukrainians in Romania and in times of Ceausescu this help stopped coming.

During the times of independence, the authorities of Ukraine were trying to raise the question of ensuring humanitarian rights of Ukrainians, namely right for education in their native language, on interstate negotiations. In order to solve the questions there was formed an intergovernmental committee on the issues of Ukrainians in Romania and Romanians in Ukraine. Since 2007 the Committee hasn’t held a single meeting and implementation of the previous decisions was systematically ignored by the Romanian party. However the level of this interest is much lower than the level of care about the Romanian community in Ukraine on the part of Romania.

Ukraine, according to both national (Yaroslav Hrytsak, Volodymyr Yevtukh) and foreign (namely, the above mentioned Rogers Brubaker), counted on formation of a political nation (A. Smith civil-territorial model) on the basis of all nationalities living on its territory. According to this model Ukrainian Diasporas were given a secondary role in building of a state, they were not considered as an important element in its formation. In particular, in Ukraine there has not been formed a governmental body which would care about Ukrainians living abroad (in Romania there is a Department of Romania from everywhere), Ukrainians from Diaspora did not receive any important political posts of the authority of Ukraine etc. Besides that a complicated social-economic situation in Ukraine did not contribute to providing money for saving identity of Ukrainians in other countries.

Border regions of Ukraine, namely Zakarpatska and Chernivtsi oblasts, attempted to take upon themselves a certain role in the interrelation with Ukrainian community of Marmorosh area and Southern Bukovyna. However, the resource of regional authorities used to be and is rather limited. Besides that, regional authorities can not solve questions with central governmental bodies.

Conclusion

Summing up, we can draw the following conclusions:

– modern Romanian legislation guarantees ethnic communities living on the territory of the country rights for national, cultural and political development. But Romanian Parliament has still not adopted the draft Law on the Status of National Minorities which has been under consideration in various forms. Lack of the basic law causes inconsistence of some legal acts of Romania what concerns national minorities’ rights and this is mentioned in the report of Advisory Committee of the Council of Europe on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities ;

– the census data indicated a correlation between the number of the population of the Ukrainian Community in Romania and the policy of the country that concerns ensuring the rights of national minorities. The situation in Southern Bukovyna is especially vivid. The policy of Romanization caused the decrease in the number of Ukrainians by four times during the last 80 years;

– there are at least three factors which influence preservation of national minorities’ identity: education (school), religion (church), authority of local leaders;

– most researchers consider the influence of education in the native language and usage of the language in the religious sphere to be decisive for preserving national identity. Asserting this position we single out one more factor – leaders of the community. Ukrainians did not have the possibility to get education in their native language during the period of 50 years in Maramuresh area as well as in Southern Bukovyna. The Ukrainian language has not been used in the religious sphere either. However, the Ukrainians of Maramuresh area did not lose their own identity and did not assimilate unlike the Ukrainians from Southern Bukovyna. The peculiarity of the County of Maramuresh is availability of local leaders of the Ukrainian community who supported Ukrainian identity despite general national tendencies of assimilation;

The census data testified to the fact that an assimilation model of “acculturing the Ukrainian community” is being realized in Southern Bukovyna.

There are several reasons for that:

Firstly, the process of institutionalization of Ukrainian community in Romania is carried out with considerable difficulties. The community does not trust national-cultural societies, representing it (the results of voting for lists of UUR testify to that fact), and educational institutions which could become the basis for grouping of Ukrainians via educational policy of Romanian governmental structures, have not been formed. Orthodox religious communities of Ukrainians in Romania, because of the policy of ecclesiastic leaders of Romanian churches, directed at Romanization of national minorities, have not become centres for revival of Ukrainian identity.

Secondly, Ukrainians in Southern Bukovyna were drawn aside from work in the authorities and were not able to form a police directed at the development of the community.

Thirdly, Ukraine because of various reasons, the main one being the fact that Ukrainian Diaspora was not considered as an element of building Ukrainian nation and Ukrainian statehood, could not compensate to Ukrainian community insufficient attention on the part of Romanian authority.

A civil-territorial model of building a Ukrainian nation (as a consequence – insufficient attention to Ukrainian community in Romania) and ethnic-genealogical model of building a Romanian nation (excessive attention to Romanian community in Ukraine) led to assimilation processes among Ukrainian community predominating in Romania, and segregation processes among Romanian community predominating in Ukraine. It was noted when holding a common monitoring of adherence to the rights of national minorities of Ukraine and Romania in 2007.

Legea nr. 373/2004 pentru alegerea Camerei Deputatilor si a Senatului Accessed 10 December. [ Law on the elections for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate] http://legislatie.resurse-pentru-democratie.org/373_2004.php

Scridb filter]]>http://buktolerance.com.ua/?lang=en&feed=rss2&p=78970Concluding seminars on the combination of different approaches to equality provision and anti-discrimination.http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7573&lang=en
http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7573&lang=en#respondTue, 01 Nov 2016 07:52:13 +0000http://buktolerance.com.ua/?p=7573 The EPP team has returned after conducting a two-day seminar in the capital and two regional events. The series of seminars dedicated to the combination of different approaches to equality provision and anti-discrimination was held in Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia. The seminars were organized in cooperation with the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights,

The EPP team has returned after conducting a two-day seminar in the capital and two regional events.

The series of seminars dedicated to the combination of different approaches to equality provision and anti-discrimination was held in Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia. The seminars were organized in cooperation with the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Ministry of Culture, the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration and the Vinnytsia Regional State Administration.
The seminars topic, “The combination of different approaches to equality provisions and anti-discrimination ” sparked a keen interest with the Ukrainian public, and over 120 people attended the EPP seminars in the three cities.
Three invited experts, Mr. Aleksejs Dimitrovs, Dr. Reeta Toivanen, and Ms.Oxana Gumennaia gave lectures at the events, focusing on the ways of effective anti-discrimination and practical utilization of anti-discrimination legislation for minorities‘ protection. During every seminar the expert lecture was followed by a questions and answers session, and a lively discussion involving everyone attending the seminar: representatives of minority communities, NGO activists, state and regional decision-makers.Джерело: http://ecmi-epp.org/?p=2827